8. Lucy’s Idea

Chapter 8 Lucy's Idea Hannah blushed. "How did you know?" she asked. "We saw you yesterday on the trapeze," Lucy said. "I thought you were wonderful!" "Why, thank you, Lucy!" Hannah said. "But I was in my costume, so how did you know it was me?" "That's what I want to know!" Brian said. Bradley told Hannah and Adam about the man at Howard's Barbershop—the one with the messy hair. "It reminded me of Hannah's the first time we saw her," he said. "That was, like, five minutes

after we watched the mystery acrobat in the tent." "I remember!" Nate said. "Hannah's hair was all spiky." "After I saw that guy at Howard's, I thought maybe Hannah's hair was all weird because she'd just pulled off that hood on her silver costume!" Bradley went on. "Later, her hair was all neat." "Our folks don't know," Adam said. "We haven't told them how good Hannah is on the high wire and trapeze." "But why not?" Bradley asked. "She's awesome!" Adam sighed. "The folks want to keep the Flying Fortunatos together, but the circus is falling apart," he said. "They're getting old, and they have no money." "Even if I performed, we still wouldn't have a circus," Hannah said. She looked at her brother. "Tell them the rest, Adam." "I don't want to be an acrobat anymore," Adam said. "I want to be an artist. I want to go to art school this fall." "But your parents—" Bradley started to say.

"They don't know that, either," Adam said. "They're going to be crushed when we tell them." Bradley remembered the note. "Who's Mr. Wood?" he asked Adam. "How'd you hear about him?" Adam asked. Bradley told him about the picture he'd found in the shoe box. "You wrote the note, right?" Adam nodded. "Lawson Wood is a great artist," he explained. "I want to do what he does. I was writing him a letter, and then I threw it away." Adam looked at his sister. "Your turn," he said. "I don't want to be an acrobat, either," Hannah said. "I want to open a school to teach acrobatics. But the folks would have a fit. They keep thinking they can save the circus." "She's a natural," Adam said. "She could totally teach other people. I think she's part bird or something." Hannah grinned. "You're the one who's part bird," she said. Turning to the kids, she added, "Adam Fortunato is the best acrobat I've ever seen. Our parents taught him. Now he's even better than they were. He's been teaching me for ten years!"

Bradley remembered Adam's performance earlier. "Um, we saw you in the tent," he said. "You didn't look much like an acrobat.…" "Oh, I was just practicing how I was going to fool my parents," Adam said. "I was going to pretend I was a klutz—that I couldn't do it anymore. So they'd let me out of the show." "What are you guys going to do?" Nate asked. Adam shrugged. Hannah shook her head. "I have an idea," Lucy said. Adam and Hannah looked at Lucy. "Tell us!" Hannah said. "Tell your parents they can be part of the audience tomorrow night," Lucy said.